Dear reader,
Today was a horrible day. A mix of danger and emotions has torn me apart. While we were on the ship going towards Lisbon, a terrible storm began to form. The boat was rocking about, and many people were becoming sick. As Pangloss has always said, everything happens for the best, so I didn’t worry too much. I heard someone scream, and I could barely hear them over the hard winds, so I ran out onto the deck, where I saw a sailor, calmly looking into the water; he was staring at something. I looked down into the sea and I saw James! I was so panicked at first I didn’t know what to do, but I pulled myself together and decided I should help him. I was about to jump in and try to save him when Pangloss held me back. He convinced me that the storm had been created especially for James to die, as everything has a reason and is for the best. I could not come to this idea, for he was a kind man who had helped us and nourished us when we were on the streets. Pangloss was talking to me about this when the ship suddenly broke in half! We struggled to stay at the surface of the water. After the ship had sunk, the only survivors were Pangloss and I, as well as the sailor who let James drown. He swa
m back to shore, and we floated to it on a wooden plank. We thought the worst was over, and we were grateful to find that we still had some money, when the earth suddenly shook. It was an earthquake! The sailor thought that he was going to be killed by this and so he quickly got drunk. I did not pay much attention to him as I was trying to dodge flying stones and rocks from the surrounding buildings. I suddenly then got hit by one and I can’t remember much, for I fainted quickly after. The next day, we went out to help the other citizens look for survivors. As thanks for our help, they fed us with a good meal (under the circumstances) and Pangloss talked to them about his belief that this earthquake had been for a good reason. A man from the Inquisition questioned him about this belief, and Pangloss responded him quickly and convincingly. I wish I could think up answers like that!Satiric Techniques:
-Irony: James the anabaptist is killed when he drowns during the shipwreck and Pangloss stops Candide from going in after him because he says that James is supposed to drown. Candide is unhappy with this, but he knows that Pangloss is right.
-Deus ex Machina: After the shipwreck, the only survivors happen to be Candide, Pangloss and the sailor who let James drown. Candide and Pangloss are very lucky to still be alive after all they have been through.
-Overstatement: "Thirty thousand inhabitants were crushed beneath the ruins" (Voltaire 13). This quote is talking about the earthquake on November 1st, 1755. However, in the footnote, it says that only 20,000 people died.
Idea: Voltaire included this chapter in Candide because he wanted to show how some people such as Candide really followed people such as Pangloss without questioning anything about their thoughts, just accepting them. He wants to show this because he is making fun of the fact that most people, usually rich people because they don't have anything to worry about compared to peasants an very poor people who have huge problems daily, go alon with anything other people say, without using their own brains to think for themselves. Most people who do this never think for themselves, and so miss out on a big part of their life, just because they followed someone else's ideas and not their own. However, some people find out the hard way that they need to figure out their own ideas, without anyone's help, like Candide. Before, Candide only believed in Pangloss's theory that everything is the best, so whether it is good or bad, it must happen. However, during his trip to Lisbon in the ship, and after the earthquake, Candide starts to doubt the truth of this theory. He starts to think for himself because he sees that the death of a friend, and many other people shouldn't have to be, and therefore wouldn't be for the best.
